Process of making decorated leather substitute and the product thereof



H. A; LINDSEY PROCESS OF MAKIHG DECORATED LEATHER SUBSTITUTE AND THE PRODUCT THEREOF Filed Feb. 24, 1921 f/A Lindsey /m/en for N TE HENRI A. LTNDSEY, OF BRANDYWINE HUNDRED, DELAWARE, ASSIGNOR TO E. I. DU FONT DE NEMOURS & COMPANY, OF WILIiIINGTON, DELAWARE, A CORPORATION or DELAWARE. rnocnss or MAKING nncoanran LEATHER SUBSTITUTE AND THE PRODUCT THEREOF.

Application filed February 24, 1921. Serial No. 44?,559.

I '0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRI A. LINDSEY,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Brandywine Hundred, in the county of 'NewCa-stle and State of Delaware, have invented a certain new and useful Process of Making Decorated Leather Substitute and the Productlhereof, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to a process of making a decorated, leather substitute in the similitude of a patterned woven fabric, and to the article produced by such process. An objectof the invention is to provide a process for the convenient and ready produo' tion of leather substitute whose pyroxylin coated surface shall closely resemble a woven fabric having decorations, such as flowers or what not, woven therein; it is also an object to provide leather substitute of the character indicated.

Whereas various types of decorated leather substitute have heretofore been produced for various purposes and specific uses, they have more particularly resembled decorated leather, and been more particularly adapted for use in the place of decorated leather. None of them has sufliciently resembled woven fabric, with a pattern incorporated in the weave, to make it a wholly satisfactory substitute for such a patterned fabric in the upholstery of the more decorative type of furniture and the like, where a patterned-fabric appearance, rather than a "decorated-leather appearance, is desired. By the present process, there can be produced a leather substitute-or rather a' patternedfabric substitute made of leather substitute-which resembles patterned fabric sufficiently closely to make its use in the place of patterned fabric artistically practical, apd

satlsfactory.

In the accompanying drawing 1 have shown the patterned fabric substitute in its various stages of production, and it will be understood that,due to the limitations of black and white drawing and the necessity for simplicity, but slight attempt at decorative effect, and no attempt at exact showing of the fabric-weave embossing, has been made. Figure 1 is an illustration of the leather substitute before decoration; Figure 2, an illustration of a small ortion of substitute after application of t e pattern, and

Figure 3, an illustration of the portion shown in Figure 2 after embossing.

In making substitute in accordance with the present process the procedure is preferably as follows :The leather substitute havmg been prepared by coating a web of fabric 1 on one side with a pyroxylin film 2'in any usual or other satisfactory way, the desired pattern 3, such as flowers, leaves or other design, like, in appearance, the pattern woven in the particular fabric it is desired to imitate, is applied to the pyroxylin face of the Web in any suitable way, and the so-decorated face is embossed,

as indicated in a conventional and elementary manner by the lining 4, by pressing thereon with an embossing element, as a plate or ro ll, covered with a fabric having sub.- stantially the same general character of Weave as the fabric to be imitated. The film is of course colored with incorporated pigment to give the base color of the fabric to. be imitated, and the decorations are of the colors of the figures of the fabric;

It is to be particularly noted that the web is embossed with the, fabric weave afternot beforethe pattern or figures have been applied to the pyroxylin surface. 4

The result is that the whole of the decorated surface of the web has a fabric-like appearance, that is, the figures as well as the plain portions of the surface between the figures have that appearance, 'and not merely the,

plain portions. Furthermore, the embossmg destroys the glossy appearance of the plain portions and the superposed and glossy appearance of the decorations, and gives the whole surface. a uniform character the decorations and the plain portions blending each into the other substantially as a woven pattern blends with its background. The resulting article, then, has

substantially the same appearance as the .imitated patterned fabric.

The decorations may be applied in any suitable way, for'example' by painting, by printing, or by indenting the outlines of the pattern in the surface by embossing and then filling the indentations with pigment.

.It is of course desirable to use a paint containing a high boiling pyroxylin solvent, an

ink containing pyroxylin or pigment in pyroxylin'soluti on, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, the specific type of paint, or the like, forming no part of the present invention.

As a specific example of making a patterned-fabric substitute in accordance with the process, I may make an imitation of the machine-made tapestry used-for fine upholstering, by applying the .pattern,.or figures consisting of conventionalized flowers and leaves, to the completed undecorated leather substitute, doing this by first indenting an outline of the pattern in the pigmented-pyroxylin surface and then applying a thing pigmented pyroxylin solution to the entire surface and scraping the solution from all but the indented figure outlines, and drying the solution remaining in the outlines, all in the well understood manner; and then embossing the entire surface with an embossing element covered with rep, taking care that the embossing is sufliciently deep to substantially obliterate the previously indented figure outlines, leaving the entire surface with its primary characteristic, the imprint of the corded or ribbed surface of the rep. Of course such combinations of colors may be used as desired, and, by way of example, I have found a black pyroxylin surface with blue-green figures pleasing.

I claim 1. The process of making decorated leather substitute having a patterned-fabric appearance which comprises, applying a pigmented, opaque, web-concealing leather-substitute film to a textile fabric base, decorating said film with figures to pattern the film, as distinguished from decorating the fabric base, and uniformly embossing the entire film,

areas therebet ween, to represent the weave of rep.

3. As an article of manufacture, a decorated leather substitute comprising a textile fabric base carrying a pigmented, opaque,

web-concealing leat r-substitute film, with said film, as distinguished from said base, decorated with figures to pattern the same, and its entire surface, both the figures and the plain areas therebetween, uniformly embossed with textilefabric-like weave mark- -ings.

4. As an article of manufacture, decorated leather substitute, imitative of machine made tapestry, comprising a fabric base carrying an opaque pigmented pyroxylin film, with said film, as distinguished from said base, decorated with conventionalized figures characteristic of tapestry and cor? trasting in color with said film, and its entire surface, both the figures and the plain areas therebetween, uniformly embossed with rep-like Weave markings.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

HENRI A. LINDSEY, 

